Tag Archives: Duke class frigate

Rap, rap, rapping on the Bastion door

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“Three Arleigh Burke-class Aegis destroyers — USS Donald Cook, USS Porter, and USS Roosevelt — are supported by fast combat support ship USNS Supply and joined by the Royal Navy’s HMS Kent to assert freedom of navigation and demonstrate seamless integration among allies,” a U.S. Navy news release said.

Not a big deal, as such joint operations happen every day somewhere in the maritime domain.

What is a big deal, is that the exercise involved said surface action group chilling out above the Arctic Circle in the Barents Sea, long a “safe” boomer bastion for the Russian Northern Fleet. Further, other than for Norway which is a “local” in the region, the task force was the largest NATO operation in the region in about 25 years.

ARCTIC OCEAN (May 5, 2020) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78), front, the Royal Navy Type-23 Duke-class frigate HMS Kent (F78), the fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) and USS Roosevelt (DDG 80) conduct joint operations to ensure maritime security in the Arctic Ocean, May 5, 2020. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of the Royal Navy by Royal Navy Photographer Dan Rosenbaum/Released)

ADM James Foggo, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and the commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy, said there will be more deployments and more exercises in the High North.

“The Russians are operating with state-of-the-art nuclear submarines,” he said. “That said, we still have the competitive advantage. But they’re good, and getting better.”

More on what that means, here.

The RN’s traveling man

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As a frequent visitor to the Chalmette Battlefield, site of the 1815 defeat of British Maj. Gen. Sir Edward Pakenham’s elite regulars and Highlanders by a plucky band of largely irregular Americans under Andrew Jackson, just Southeast of New Orleans, I made sure to head to the Crescent City for The War of 1812 Bicentennial Commemoration a few years back.

During a Fleet Week style event during the Bicentennial, the Royal Navy Type 23 (Duke-class) frigate HMS Montrose (F236) was on hand as a noted guest of honor. Then the RN’s West Indies Station Ship, the 18-year-old frigate had seen much of the world to include a number of Falkland patrol assignments and lots of duty in the Persian Gulf. As I toured the ship and talked to the Tars aboard, I was struck by their professionalism and their vessel’s highly maintained appearance. Brightwork doesn’t get that way without a continuous effort.

Now, fast forward seven years, and a now 25-year-old Montrose is still a globetrotter– recently sailing the “wrong way” around the world via the Pacific– and she just got assigned to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf for a  three-year three-year stint :

After an epic six-month, 47,000-mile journey from her home in Plymouth, the frigate sailed into the Navy’s new support facility in the Gulf kingdom, the hub of Britain’s naval operations east of Suez.

From there she will conduct regular patrols dealing with drug trafficking in the Indian Ocean – where HMS Dragon scored a record-breaking eight busts over the winter – supporting counter-terrorism and counter-smuggling operations, and work with Middle East and allied navies to ensure the safety and security of this key region.

Instead of returning home to the UK after a six to nine-month deployment, Montrose is being stationed in Bahrain until 2022 to ensure a permanent presence and spare warships the lengthy passage to and from Britain, time which could be spent on patrol in the Middle East.